MonsterInsights alternative
It shows you Google Analytics.
Which parts are you paying for?
MonsterInsights doesn’t replace Google Analytics: it adds the GA4 tag to WordPress and shows GA4’s numbers in your dashboard. The free Lite plugin gives you a 30-day overview and sends outbound, affiliate and download clicks to GA4. Reports for those, Search Console, scroll depth and PageSpeed start on Plus, $99.50 the first year, then $199. Forms, WooCommerce and author reports need Pro, $199.50, then $399 a year. For an alternative, Site Kit by Google shows GA4 and Search Console in WordPress for free, Independent Analytics, Koko and Burst can keep stats in your own database without cookies, Plausible sets no cookies at all, and Builderify User Journey follows each visitor, with consent. Below: what each plan covers, a checker that finds the cheapest plan for what you track, and the alternatives priced at your traffic.
By the Builderify team
Illustration, not real data or the real MonsterInsights screen
What does MonsterInsights actually do?
It adds GA4, then reads it back.
MonsterInsights is a WordPress plugin with two jobs. It prints Google’s tag on every page, so Google Analytics 4 records your visits, and it fetches GA4’s reports into wp-admin so you never open GA4. It stores no visits of its own. Every number it shows is Google’s.
-
Your WordPress site
MonsterInsights prints the Google tag (gtag.js) in <head>, plus its own script that labels link clicks. Lite leaves out logged-in administrators and editors by default.
-
Google Analytics 4
Google records and keeps the visits. History, retention, cookies and consent all follow GA4’s rules, whichever plugin added the tag.
-
wp-admin › Insights
MonsterInsights reads the reports back. Lite shows an overview of the last 30 days; the other reports are Plus or Pro.
Uninstall it, keep your history
Your GA4 data stays in your GA4 property. Removing the plugin takes away the dashboard, not the numbers.
Remove it alone, and tracking stops
The Google tag goes with the plugin. If you keep GA4, add the tag another way first: Site Kit, or the tag pasted in your header.
One Google Analytics plugin at a time
MonsterInsights’ own FAQ says to use only one, or you compromise your data. Two plugins means two tags and double counts.
Thinking of leaving GA4 itself, not just the plugin? The guide to Google Analytics alternatives compares the options, and replacing Google Analytics step by step covers removing the tag cleanly.
MonsterInsights free vs Pro:
what Lite actually covers.
Lite tracks more than it shows. Several kinds of click reach GA4 for free, but the report that shows them inside WordPress is a paid one. Here is the split, from the pricing page and the Lite plugin’s own code, version 11.3.0.
| Feature | Lite free | Plus 1 site | Pro 5 sites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overview: sessions, pageviews, top posts, referrers, countries, devices Lite shows the last 30 days and nothing else. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reports for any date range | —No | Yes | Yes |
| Outbound, affiliate and file download clicks Lite sends them to GA4. The Publishers report that shows them in WordPress is Plus. | In GA4 | Yes | Yes |
| Clicks on buttons Links only, with data-vars-ga attributes you add by hand. A real <button> is not tracked. | Partly | Partly | Partly |
| Scroll depth | —No | Yes | Yes |
| Real-time report | —No | Yes | Yes |
| Search Console report | —No | Yes | Yes |
| Site Speed (PageSpeed) report | —No | Yes | Yes |
| YouTube, Vimeo and HTML5 video tracking | —No | Yes | Yes |
| EU Compliance addon It works with CookieBot, Cookie Notice, CookieYes and Complianz. You still need one of them for the banner. | —No | Yes | Yes |
| Popular posts widget Lite and Plus sort it by comments, SharedCount or your own picks. Ranking by GA4 traffic needs the Dimensions addon, on Pro. | Partly | Partly | Yes |
| Form conversion tracking | —No | —No | Yes |
| eCommerce: WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, MemberPress | —No | —No | Yes |
| Custom dimensions: authors, categories, post types, SEO score | —No | —No | Yes |
| User Journey report: the pages before a purchase | —No | —No | Yes |
| Ads conversion tracking: Google, Microsoft, Meta, TikTok and more | —No | —No | Yes |
Elite and Agency include everything in Pro. “In GA4” means Lite sends the event to Google Analytics, where you can read it for free, but shows no report for it in WordPress.
What Lite really gives you
- The GA4 tag, set up by signing in with Google, no code
- One report: an overview of the last 30 days, with top posts, referrers, countries and devices
- Outbound, affiliate, download, email and phone link clicks sent to GA4 as events. Affiliate paths default to /go/ and /recommend/, and you can add your own
- A popular posts widget sorted by comments or your own picks
GA4 already does some of this
With enhanced measurement switched on, GA4 itself records page views, outbound clicks, file downloads, scrolls past 90% of a page, site searches and form starts and submits, with no plugin at all. What GA4 can’t do on its own is count clicks on cloaked /go/ links on your own domain, WooCommerce sales or authors without extra setup. That is the gap MonsterInsights’ paid plans fill.
From Google’s enhanced measurement events page.
MonsterInsights pricing: half off,
for the first year only.
Every plan is sold at 50% off the first year. The pricing page says it plainly under the plans: “Special introductory pricing, all renewals are at full price.” Plans are priced by sites, not traffic, and every one allows unlimited pageviews. US dollars, billed yearly, before tax.
Plus
1 siteThe everyday reports: Publishers, Search Console, Site Speed, real-time and any date range. Scroll and video tracking, the EU Compliance addon.
Pro
5 sitesAdds form conversions, eCommerce for WooCommerce and others, custom dimensions, ads conversion tracking and the purchase User Journey report.
Elite
5 sitesPro, plus UserFeedback surveys and heatmaps, Exceptions reports, Site Notes automations and multisite support. Same 5 sites.
Agency
25 sitesEverything in Pro, plus Site Notes automations, on up to 25 sites.
“Special introductory pricing, all renewals are at full price.”
monsterinsights.com/pricing, read 16 October 2026.
- Plus is one site. A second site moves you to Pro, which covers five, or a second Plus licence.
- Elite and Pro both cover five sites. Elite adds UserFeedback surveys and heatmaps, Exceptions reports and multisite support; for the reports in this guide, Pro is enough.
- A 14-day refund. The pricing page offers a full refund within 14 days of buying, no questions asked.
- The AI credits pay for asking the assistant questions about your stats instead of reading the reports.
Which MonsterInsights features
do I actually need?
Tick what you really look at, not what sounds useful. You get the cheapest MonsterInsights plan that covers it, then each alternative: what it covers, which plan, and a year’s price at your traffic.
Only Plausible and Builderify price by traffic; the plugins price by sites.
Only Builderify’s price uses this: it charges per visitor.
Form submissions need Pro.
- In wp-admin Lite
- Top posts Lite
- Outbound Plus
- Affiliate Plus
- Forms Pro
- Consent Plus
Partly: Consent (EU Compliance addon on Plus, and a banner plugin).
Burst Statistics (Creator, 1 site) covers everything you ticked for €43.61 a year.
Ranked on how much of your list each tool covers, then on what a year costs after any first-year discount, with euros and dollars taken at face value. The table below has every tool.
| Tool · plan | In wp-admin | Top posts | Outbound | Affiliate | Forms | Consent | Covered | First year | Then a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MonsterInsights Pro, 5 sites | Yes: what it is for | Yes: Lite shows the last 30 days; any range from Plus | Yes: tracked in Lite; the WordPress report is Plus | Yes: paths you set, tracked in Lite; report on Plus | Yes: Pro | Partly: EU Compliance addon on Plus, and a banner plugin |
92%
|
$199.50 | $399 |
| ExactMetrics Pro, 5 sites | Yes: what it is for | Yes: Lite shows the last 30 days; any range from Plus | Yes: tracked in Lite; the WordPress report is Plus | Yes: paths you set, tracked in Lite; report on Plus | Yes: Pro | Partly: EU Compliance addon on Plus, and a banner plugin |
92%
|
$199.50 | $399 |
| Site Kit by Google Free plugin | Yes: the Site Kit dashboard | Yes | Partly: GA4 records them; read them in GA4 | Partly: a Tag Manager trigger: /go/ links stay on your domain | Yes: six supported form and popup plugins | Partly: Consent Mode switch, and a banner plugin |
75%
|
Free | Free |
| GA4, no plugin Free, the Google tag | No: reports are in GA4 only | Yes: in GA4 | Yes: enhanced measurement | Partly: Tag Manager: /go/ links stay on your domain | Partly: form_submit, automatic; check it against real entries | Partly: add a banner with Consent Mode |
58%
|
Free | Free |
| Jetpack Stats Free for any site | Yes | Yes | Yes: the Clicks card | Partly: counts links that leave your site | No | Partly: no visitor cookie listed; IP and user agent go to WordPress.com |
67%
|
Free | Free |
| Independent Analytics Pro Standard, 1 site | Yes | Yes | Yes: Pro | Yes: Pro | Yes: 20+ form plugins, Pro | Yes: no cookies |
100%
|
$49 | $49 |
| Koko Analytics Pro Single, 1 site | Yes | Yes | Yes: Pro, built in | Partly: Pro: an event class on /go/ links | Yes: Pro, built in | Yes: no cookies by default |
92%
|
€59 | €59 |
| Burst Statistics Creator, 1 site | Yes | Yes | Yes: Creator | Yes: a click goal | Yes: automatic, Creator | Yes: cookieless mode, one toggle |
100%
|
€43.61 | €43.61 |
| Plausible Starter, 1 site, up to 100k | Yes: the plugin shows the dashboard in wp-admin | Yes | Yes | Yes: via the plugin | Yes | Yes: no cookies |
100%
|
$190 | $190 |
| Builderify User Journey Credits, no plan | No: reports are in the Builderify dashboard | Partly: top pages, kept 30 days at most | Yes: a click goal on a CSS selector | Yes: a click goal on /go/ links | Yes: a form goal | Yes: its own banner, in the same script |
75%
|
$69 | $69 |
| Tool · plan | Covered | First year | Then a year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Hover a dot for the detail · the small print for each tool is below
Partly: Consent (EU Compliance addon on Plus, and a banner plugin)
First year at the introductory price; renewals are at full price.
Partly: Consent (EU Compliance addon on Plus, and a banner plugin)
Same company as MonsterInsights, same plans and prices.
Partly: Outbound (GA4 records them; read them in GA4); Affiliate (a Tag Manager trigger: /go/ links stay on your domain); Consent (Consent Mode switch, and a banner plugin)
Free, from Google. GA4 sets cookies, so EU visitors need a banner.
Missing: In wp-admin (reports are in GA4 only)
Partly: Affiliate (Tag Manager: /go/ links stay on your domain); Forms (form_submit, automatic; check it against real entries); Consent (add a banner with Consent Mode)
Free. You paste the Google tag yourself and read everything in GA4.
Missing: Forms
Partly: Affiliate (counts links that leave your site); Consent (no visitor cookie listed; IP and user agent go to WordPress.com)
Free again for any site since late August 2026. Needs a WordPress.com connection.
Stats stay in your WordPress database. Renews at the price you paid.
Partly: Affiliate (Pro: an event class on /go/ links)
Stats stay in your WordPress database. The lightest of the lot.
Stats stay in your WordPress database. Prices as its page showed them to us; they may include tax.
Stats on EU servers, kept 3 years on Starter and Growth, 5 on Business.
Billed yearly: 10 months’ price for 12.
Missing: In wp-admin (reports are in the Builderify dashboard)
Partly: Top posts (top pages, kept 30 days at most)
Not cookieless: ask for consent in the EU and UK. Keeps 7, 14 or 30 days, not years.
Counts every visitor as new each month, so this is the most you would pay.
How these are priced. The cheapest plan that covers your ticks and your number of sites. Plausible billed yearly. Builderify at 0.1 credits per new visitor and 10 per 1,000 page loads, after 250 free credits a month, plus 100 credits once for each website after the first, bought as one-time packs.
Prices read on 16 October 2026, before tax. Builderify’s rates are on the pricing page.
How these are priced. The cheapest plan that covers your ticks and your number of sites. Plausible billed yearly. Builderify at 0.1 credits per new visitor and 10 per 1,000 page loads, after 250 free credits a month, plus 100 credits once for each website after the first, bought as one-time packs.
Prices read on 16 October 2026, before tax. Builderify’s rates are on the pricing page.
MonsterInsights alternatives
for WordPress, side by side.
Read from each vendor’s own pricing page, docs and WordPress.org listing on 16 October 2026. Installs are WordPress.org’s “active installations”. Where a vendor does not say, neither do we.
| Tool | Installs | Free | Paid | Data lives in | Cookies | In wp-admin | Best at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MonsterInsights | 2+ million | Lite: the GA4 tag and a 30-day overview | Plus $99.50 first year, then $199 | Google Analytics 4 | GA4 cookies | Yes | Publisher, Search Console and store reports in wp-admin |
| ExactMetrics | 300,000+ | Lite | The same plans and prices | Google Analytics 4 | GA4 cookies | Yes | Nothing MonsterInsights doesn’t: same owner |
| Site Kit by Google | 5+ million | All of it | None | Google Analytics 4 | GA4 cookies; Consent Mode switch | Yes | GA4, Search Console and PageSpeed in one free dashboard |
| GA4, no plugin | None needed | All of it | None | Google Analytics 4 | GA4 cookies | No | Outbound, download, 90% scroll and form events built in |
| Jetpack Stats | 3+ million (Jetpack) | Free for any site, any traffic | Paid Stats from $100/yr for UTM, devices, cities | WordPress.com (Automattic) | No visitor cookie listed | Yes | Top posts, clicks and downloads, with full history |
| Independent Analytics | 100,000+ | Pages, referrers, cities, devices | Pro $49/yr, 1 site | Your WordPress database | None | Yes | Clicks, forms, WooCommerce and journeys for $49 |
| Koko Analytics | 60,000+ | Views, referrers, a most viewed posts widget | Pro €59/yr, 1 site | Your WordPress database | None by default | Yes | The lightest, with a popular posts widget free |
| Burst Statistics | 200,000+ | Core stats and one goal | Creator about €44/yr, 1 site | Your WordPress database | Cookieless mode, one toggle | Yes | Click goals free; WooCommerce on Business |
| Plausible | 10,000+ (plugin) | 30-day trial | Starter $9/mo, 10k pageviews | EU servers | None | Yes, via its plugin | Scroll, forms, downloads and affiliate clicks on every plan |
| Builderify User Journey | Not on WordPress.org yet | 250 free credits a month | 0.1 credits per new visitor, 10 per 1,000 page loads | Builderify’s servers | First-party cookies; ask for consent in the EU | No: the Builderify dashboard | Each visitor’s path, goals with a value, funnels |
MonsterInsights’ WordPress.org listing says 2+ million active installations; its own text says over 3 million. Burst’s page showed €43.61 a year for Creator on one site, an amount that may include tax. Site Kit, MonsterInsights, ExactMetrics and GA4 on its own all put Google Analytics on your pages, so GA4’s cookies and consent rules apply to each.
Not really: same company.
ExactMetrics’ own footer reads “ExactMetrics is a trademark of MonsterInsights, LLC.” Its plans carry the same names and prices: Plus $99.50 then $199, Pro $199.50 then $399, Agency $399.50 then $799, plus a 100-site plan. It is also a GA4 dashboard. Moving between the two changes the logo, not the bill.
Site Kit vs MonsterInsights
Both put GA4 in wp-admin. Site Kit is Google’s own and costs nothing; MonsterInsights reports more of what bloggers and stores ask for, at a price.
- GA4, Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, AdSense and Tag Manager in one dashboard
- Key metrics for top authors and categories; Site Kit creates the GA4 custom dimensions
- Conversions from Contact Form 7, WPForms, Ninja Forms, Mailchimp, OptinMonster, Popup Maker, WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads
- A Consent Mode switch, used with WP Consent API and a banner plugin
- Affiliate link tracking on your own /go/ paths, and a report of top affiliate and outbound links (Plus)
- Scroll, video and real-time reports inside WordPress (Plus)
- eCommerce, coupon and purchase journey reports for WooCommerce and others (Pro)
- A popular posts widget ranked by GA4 traffic (Pro)
Run one or the other, not both: two plugins print two Google tags. Site Kit’s conversion tracking and key metrics are from its own documentation, read 16 October 2026.
Site Kit by Google
If Lite’s 30-day overview is all you open, Site Kit shows more of GA4 for nothing, with Search Console beside it. The free Google Analytics plugin for WordPress most people need.
Independent Analytics, Koko or Burst
No Google account and no cookies. Independent Analytics Pro covers clicks, forms and WooCommerce for $49 a year; Koko is the lightest; Burst gives you a click goal free.
Jetpack Stats and these, comparedPlausible
Scroll depth, forms, downloads and affiliate clicks on every plan, priced by pageviews, and a plugin that puts the dashboard in wp-admin.
Plausible, plan by planBuilderify User Journey
Each visitor’s path, goals on clicks, forms and scrolling with a value and funnel steps, and VPN and data-centre traffic counted apart. Consent needed in the EU.
Where it fitsYou run a WooCommerce store and read its eCommerce, coupon and form reports in wp-admin every week, you keep GA4 for Google Ads, and you would rather pay than set those up in GA4 or Tag Manager yourself. That is what Pro is for, and the checker above will often say so.
An analytics plugin is often one of fifteen. The guide to cutting down WordPress plugins shows what else one tool can replace, and tracking affiliate link clicks covers the /go/ links in detail.
Where Builderify fits,
and where it doesn’t.
MonsterInsights reports totals from GA4. Builderify User Journey records each visitor: the pages they read, how far they scrolled, how long they stayed, and the goals they reached. Goals cover the things this guide keeps coming back to: clicks on any CSS selector, form submissions, scroll depth, time on page, pages per visit, a page, or a custom event from your code, each with a value and funnel steps if you want them. None of it needs Pro or Tag Manager.
It is not cookieless. Journey sets two first-party cookies, _bdf_jid for 400 days and _bdf_jvs_… for a 30-minute visit, so in the EU and UK you generally ask first. Switch on “Wait for cookie consent” (off by default) with Builderify’s cookie banner, which also sets Google Consent Mode for any GA4 tag you keep.
This describes what each tool does, not legal advice. What a visitor timeline looks like is in the user journey tracking guide.
What User Journey does
- A page-by-page timeline for every visitor, with time on page and scroll depth
- Goals on clicks, forms, scrolling, time, pages per visit, a page or a custom event, with a value and funnel steps
- Signups from Builderify popups and forms land on the visitor’s own timeline
- Real people, VPN or proxy users and data-centre traffic counted apart
- Top pages, entry and exit pages, sources, countries and devices
- Do Not Track respected by default
Know this first
- Not cookieless: it needs consent where the law asks for it
- Keeps 7, 14 or 30 days at most, by design. GA4 and the plugins keep years; Journey does not
- No UTM or campaign reports: sources come from the referrer
- No reports in wp-admin: you read them in the Builderify dashboard
- No Search Console, PageSpeed or WooCommerce reports. A purchase is a goal you send from your own code, with its value
- Priced per visitor, so a busy site pays more than for a flat licence. If credits run out, the widget pauses until you top up; the cookie banner keeps running
Site Kit for the totals. Journey for the people.
Adding it to WordPress
There is now a Builderify WordPress plugin (version 1.0.0, WordPress 6.2+, PHP 7.4+). It is not on WordPress.org yet, so you upload it. It works on classic and block themes alike, with nothing to paste into header.php, and the same plugin also loads Builderify’s popups, chat and cookie banner.
-
Step 1
Download and upload
In your Builderify dashboard, open Connect › WordPress and download builderify.zip. In WordPress: Plugins › Add New Plugin › Upload Plugin, then Install Now and Activate.
-
Step 2
Paste your site key
Open Settings › Builderify and paste the site key from the same WordPress tab. The widget then loads on every public page, after the page itself.
-
Step 3
Consent first, then goals
Tick the cookie consent tag: it goes first in <head>, ahead of other plugins’ tags, and caching plugins are told not to delay it. Then turn on Journey and add your first goal.
Prefer a code plugin? The snippet still works pasted into WPCode or Code Snippets, set to load in the header. Prices are on the pricing page: 250 free credits a month, then one-time packs that never expire.
How to switch from MonsterInsights
without a gap in your stats.
Your history is safe in GA4 whatever you do. The risk is the days in between: remove the plugin first and the tag goes with it, so GA4 records nothing until something else adds it back.
-
01
Decide whether GA4 stays
Keeping it (for Google Ads, say)? Note your Measurement ID: in GA4, Admin › Data streams, then your web stream; it starts with G-. Leaving it? Your history stays readable in GA4 after the switch.
-
02
Add the replacement first
Site Kit adds the Google tag itself when you connect Analytics. Without a plugin, paste the tag from GA4’s “Install manually” instructions with a header plugin. A cookieless plugin or Builderify can go in alongside.
-
03
Deactivate MonsterInsights, then check
View your page source and search for gtag/js?id=G-. You want it exactly once if you kept GA4, and not at all if you didn’t. Two copies double count.
-
04
Clean up its shortcodes and blocks
Pages that used [monsterinsights_popular_posts_inline] or [monsterinsights_popular_posts_widget] will show the shortcode as plain text once the plugin is off. Swap them for your new tool’s widget, or delete them.
-
05
Expect different numbers
Lite leaves out logged-in administrators and editors by default; GA4 on its own does not, and cookieless tools count differently again. Run old and new side by side for a few weeks before you compare.
MonsterInsights, before you ask.
Yes, MonsterInsights Lite is free on WordPress.org. It adds the Google Analytics 4 tag, shows an overview report of the last 30 days, and sends outbound, affiliate and file download clicks to GA4 as events. The reports that show those clicks in WordPress, plus Search Console, scroll depth, real-time and PageSpeed, start on Plus; forms, WooCommerce and custom dimensions need Pro.
Pro is $199.50 for the first year and renews at $399 a year, for up to 5 sites. Plus is $99.50, then $199, for 1 site; Elite is $299.50, then $599, for 5 sites; Agency is $399.50, then $799, for 25 sites. MonsterInsights says all renewals are at full price. US dollars before tax, checked 16 October 2026.
Both show Google Analytics 4 inside WordPress. Site Kit is Google's own plugin and free: it adds GA4, Search Console and PageSpeed Insights, top author and category metrics, and conversions from plugins such as WPForms and WooCommerce. MonsterInsights adds affiliate link and publisher reports, scroll and video tracking on Plus, and eCommerce reports and a traffic-ranked popular posts widget on Pro. Run one, not both: two plugins can print two Google tags.
Your data stays where it always was, in your Google Analytics 4 property, and you can still read it there. What stops is tracking, because the GA4 tag goes with the plugin. Add the tag another way first, with Site Kit or the tag pasted in your header, then deactivate MonsterInsights and check your page source shows the tag exactly once.
It comes from the same company. ExactMetrics' own site says "ExactMetrics is a trademark of MonsterInsights, LLC", and its plans have the same names and prices: Plus $99.50 then $199, Pro $199.50 then $399, Agency $399.50 then $799 (checked 16 October 2026). Like MonsterInsights it is a dashboard for Google Analytics 4, so switching between them changes neither the price nor where your data lives.
Sources
Vendor pages, docs, listings and the Lite plugin’s code. Read on 16 October 2026.
- MonsterInsights Pricing and plan comparison
- WordPress.org MonsterInsights (Lite) listing
- WordPress.org MonsterInsights Lite source code
- MonsterInsights Custom link attribution
- MonsterInsights Popular posts from Google Analytics
- MonsterInsights EU Compliance addon
- ExactMetrics Pricing
- WordPress.org ExactMetrics listing
- Google Enhanced measurement events
- WordPress.org Site Kit by Google
- Site Kit Key metrics
- Site Kit Plugin conversion tracking
- Site Kit Consent mode
- WordPress.org Jetpack Stats standalone plugin
- Jetpack Jetpack Stats: Free or Paid Plan
- Jetpack Top Posts & Pages block
- Independent Analytics Pro pricing
- WordPress.org Independent Analytics listing
- Koko Analytics Pro pricing
- WordPress.org Koko Analytics listing
- Burst Statistics Pricing and plan comparison
- WordPress.org Burst Statistics listing
- Plausible Pricing
- WordPress.org Plausible Analytics plugin
Stop losing the visitors
you already paid for.
More leads from the traffic you already have, and follow-up that sends itself. Free to start. No card, no monthly fee.